Categories: AI Beauty, AI Photo Editor, AI Photo Enhancer
Aperty Review: Is This AI Photo Editor Worth It?
If you’re a photographer who shoots people—weddings, portraits, events, you name it—you know the real work often starts after the shoot. The endless hours spent in front of a screen, zooming in to 200%, meticulously clicking away blemishes, softening skin, and trying to make your clients look their absolute best. It’s a grind. I’ve been there, fueled by questionable amounts of coffee at 2 AM, wondering if there’s a better way.
For years, the answer has been… not really. AI editing tools have popped up, but many felt like blunt instruments. They’d either produce plastic, fake-looking skin or completely take creative control away from the artist. So, when I first heard about Aperty, I was skeptical. Another AI promising the world? But I kept hearing whispers about it in some photography circles, so I decided to give it a proper go. This isn’t just a rundown of features; this is my genuine, hands-on experience with a tool that claims it can give us our time back.
So, What Exactly Is Aperty?
In a nutshell, Aperty is an AI-powered photo editor designed specifically for portraits. The big idea is to automate the most tedious parts of retouching—skin, eyes, makeup, lighting—while leaving you, the photographer, firmly in the driver’s seat. It’s available as its own standalone app for both Mac and Windows, but the real magic for most of us is that it also works as a plugin directly within Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom. This is huge. It means it doesn’t demand you change your entire workflow; it just slots right into it.
It’s not trying to be a full Photoshop replacement. Think of it less as the entire kitchen and more like the world’s best sous-chef. It does the chopping, the prepping, and the time-consuming grunt work, so you can focus on the final, creative plating.
My First Impressions and Getting Started
Getting it set up was painless. A simple download and install, and the plugins appeared in Photoshop and Lightroom as promised. No weird hoops to jump through. The first time I sent a portrait over from Lightroom, I was greeted with a clean, uncluttered interface. It wasn’t intimidating. On the right-hand side, you have these neat sliders for everything from skin smoothing to makeup enhancement.
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The AI gets to work instantly, analyzing the face and applying a baseline set of corrections. And honestly, the first result was… impressive. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a solid 80% of the way there in about three seconds. From there, it’s all about tweaking. The sliders are responsive and the changes happen in real-time, which is exactly what you want. No lag, no waiting for a progress bar to finish. This felt promising.
The Aperty Features That Genuinely Save Time
An editor is only as good as its tools. Here’s a breakdown of the features I found most impactful in my own post-processing.
AI Skin Retouching and Blemish Removal
This is the big one, right? The feature they call ‘Turn Back Time on Skin’ is the cornerstone of Aperty. And it works. It masterfully smooths skin while, and this is the important part, preserving skin texture. It avoids that creepy, porcelain doll look that screams “bad retouching.” I found myself using this instead of my usual, more complex frequency separation techniques for a good chunk of my work. The time saving is just immense. The automatic blemish and wrinkle removers are also scarily accurate, but you can always manually add or remove any areas it missed or got wrong.
Intelligent Light and Color Control
You know those shots where the lighting is just a little… off? Aperty has some clever tools for this. The ‘Perfect Light’ feature is more than just a simple exposure slider. It seems to intelligently analyze the face and add dimension, almost like a subtle, virtual reflector. It’s great for adding a little pop to flatly lit images. I also played around with the ‘All-in-one AI Presets.’ They’re solid starting points, especially if you’re in a hurry, but I personally still prefer to do my main color grading back in Lightroom. Still, for a quick, client-ready proof, they are fantastic.
Makeup Tools and Face Reshaping
I approach digital makeup and face reshaping with a lot of caution. It’s easy to go too far. Aperty gives you the tools, but it’s up to you to be responsible with them. The makeup tools are quite nuanced, allowing you to enhance existing makeup or add a subtle touch of lipstick or blush. It’s surprisingly realistic.
The face reshaping is powerful, and I’d advise using it with a light touch. For me, its best use is correcting minor lens distortion that can sometimes occur in headshots, rather than drastically changing someone’s features. It’s about ethics, and maintaining teh trust of your clients.
The Power of Batch Editing and Plugin Integration
If you’re a wedding or event photographer, you’re going to love this. The ability to sync your settings from one photo and apply them across a whole batch of images shot in similar conditions is a game-changer. Imagine culling your photos in Lightroom, selecting 50 portraits, and sending them to Aperty. You perfect one image, sync the settings to the rest, let the AI do its thing on each individual face, and then send them all back to Lightroom for final color grading. This workflow alone could save hours per wedding. It’s not just a feature; it’s a fundamental change to how you can approach high-volume work.
Aperty Pricing: Is It a Good Investment?
Money talk. Is Aperty worth the price of admission? Currently, they have a “Summer Editorial Offer” on, which makes it more tempting. Here’s how it breaks down:
| Plan Type | Price | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Annual Subscription | €89.50 / year (with current offer) | Photographers who always want the latest features and updates. |
| Perpetual License | €174.50 (one-time purchase) | Those who hate subscriptions and are happy to own their current version of the software forever. |
Both options let you use it on two computers and come with a 7-day trial. My take? If you’re a working pro, the annual plan is probably the way to go to ensure you’re always up-to-date. But I have a soft spot for perpetual licenses. There’s something comforting about knowing the software is yours, even if you have to pay for major version upgrades down the line. For me, the time it saves would pay for itself after just a couple of shoots.
The Good, The Bad, and The AI
No tool is perfect. After spending some quality time with Aperty, here’s my honest, no-fluff breakdown.
What I Loved: The speed is just undeniable. It cuts down retouching time on standard portraits from 15-20 minutes to maybe 2-3 minutes of tweaking. The results look natural, which is my biggest concern with AI editors. And the Lightroom/Photoshop plugin support is just brilliant. It doesn’t force me to learn a whole new program from scratch. I also appreciate the fact that it works offline; I don’t need an internet connection, which is great for privacy and for working on a laptop while traveling.
What Could Be Better: Look, there will always be a debate about AI vs. the human touch. A high-end commercial retoucher won’t be replacing their meticulous manual process with this. And that’s fine. Also, while the AI is smart, it’s not a mind reader. Sometimes its initial adjustments are a little heavy-handed and need to be dialed back. It’s a fantastic starting point, but not always a one-click-and-done solution. But then, should it be?
Frequently Asked Questions about Aperty
I’ve seen a few questions pop up, so let’s tackle them head-on.
- What’s the difference between the subscription and the perpetual license?
- The subscription (Annual plan) gives you access to all future updates and versions as long as you’re subscribed. The Perpetual License lets you own the version you buy forever, but you’ll likely have to pay for major future upgrades if you want them.
- Does Aperty replace Photoshop?
- Absolutely not. It’s a specialized tool that complements Photoshop and Lightroom. You’ll still need them for color grading, compositing, and other advanced edits. Aperty is your retouching specialist.
- Can I use Aperty on multiple computers?
- Yes, both the annual and perpetual plans allow you to install and use it on two computers.
- Is there a free trial?
- Yes, there’s a 7-day free trial so you can test it out with your own photos before committing, which I highly recommend.
- Will my photos look fake or “AI-generated”?
- Not if you use it correctly. The key to Aperty is its natural-looking results and the fine-grained control it gives you. You can dial everything back to be as subtle as you like.
Final Thoughts: Who Should Buy Aperty?
So, what’s the final verdict? I went in a skeptic and came out a convert. Aperty has earned a permanent place in my workflow.
This software is for the busy professional—the wedding, portrait, and event photographers who are drowning in post-processing. It’s for the serious hobbyist who wants their photos to look polished and professional but doesn’t have the time to master every advanced retouching technique. It’s a tool that respects your time and your artistry.
Who is it not for? Probably the high-fashion retoucher who bills hundreds per hour for painstakingly manual work, or the purist who finds deep satisfaction in the meditative process of dodge and burn. For the rest of us, Aperty feels like a massive leap forward. It’s not about replacing the artist; it’s about giving the artist a smarter, faster brush.
